Recently, it has become possible to process a large amount of data at a high speed due to the improved performance of central processing units (CPUs). As a result, the image processing techniques have rapidly improved, and image reading apparatuses for business use and personal use have rapidly become popular due to this progress.
However, the office space or room space in general is limited, and the space restrictions are strict particularly at the central parts of the city. For this reason, the large operation space required by the image reading apparatus and the image forming apparatus has become a problem, and it is desirable to make improvements from the point of view of the space utilization efficiency.
Conventionally, there are image reading apparatuses of an automatic document feed (ADF) type, a flat bed type, and a composite type which is a combination of the ADF type and the flat bed type.
FIG. 1 shows a flat bed type image reading apparatus which is presently used popularly as an apparatus for personal use. According to this flat bed type image reading apparatus, a document is placed on a document glass 72, and the document is covered by a document holding cover 71. When a switch which is not shown is turned ON, a read head (carrier) 73 moves back and forth to successively read the image of the document on the document glass 72.
According to this apparatus, the operation region only exists at the top and the office space can be used with relatively good efficiency. However, the operation efficiency is poor because the document must be set one document at a time. In addition, it is necessary to set the document and operate the apparatus for each document, and the operation region at the front must be open.
FIG. 2 shows a composite type image reading apparatus which is a combination of the ADF type and the flat bed type. This composite type apparatus is popularly used in general. According to this apparatus, when the documents are stacked on a hopper part 74, the document is transported by a transport part 78 and is read by an image reader part 73. The read documents are ejected to a stacker part 75 and successively stacked.
According to this apparatus, a plurality of documents are automatically and consecutively supplied and processed, and the operation is extremely efficient. However, the hopper part 74 and the stacker part 75 respectively project to the top and the side, and a large space is required for the operation region. As a result, the position where the apparatus may be set up becomes restricted, and improvements were desired from this point of view.
FIG. 3 shows an improved composite type apparatus which is a combination of the ADF type and the flat bed type, and the stacker part 75 is provided below the hopper part 74. Hence, the documents placed on the hopper part 75 is transported by the transport part 78 and is turned over by a U-shaped sheet guide. The document is read when the document passes above the image reader part 73. The read document is ejected on the stacker part 75 below the hopper part 74 in the turned over state and stacked.
Accordingly, the problem of requiring a large operation region because of the stacker part 75 which projects from the side of the image reading apparatus is eliminated. However, as in the case of the flat bed type apparatus, the hopper part 74 exists at the top of the apparatus, and it is impossible to put things on the top of the apparatus because of the need to place the documents.
Therefore, the image reading apparatuses which are presently used in general have the hopper part 74 and the stacker part 75 which respectively project to the top and the side of the apparatus, and a large operation region is required. For this reason, improvements are required from the point of view of realizing efficient utilization of the office space. In addition, the image reading apparatus also takes up a large space as a system, and it is difficult to set up the apparatus close to the user.
The above described problems of the image reading apparatuses also occur in the image forming apparatuses such as printers, and improvements are similarly required from the point of view of realizing efficient utilization of the office space.